Request More Information - Post a Memory or
Leave a Message
Use this form to contact us to get more information, leave a
message of support, post a memory of Lynda Or Dawn.
Do you remember how their murders affected the communities of
Enderby, Narborough, Littlethorpe and the surrounding areas? We
should not forget!
Leave a Message
Use this form to contact us to get more information, leave a
message of support, post a memory of Lynda Or Dawn.
Do you remember how their murders affected the communities of
Enderby, Narborough, Littlethorpe and the surrounding areas? We
should not forget!
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Lynda & Dawn remembered
| All rights reserved. website developed and maintained FREE of charge by www.rollingdominoes.com |
| REMEMBER Lynda Mann Dawn Ashworth |
| Alternative email contact lynda.dawn@rollingdominoes.com |
Leicester Mercury 8th April 2009
An online memorial book has been created for the two victims of killer Colin Pitchfork.
Friends and relatives of schoolgirls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth are being encouraged
to commit their memories of the pair to the site.
It was designed by Enderby resident Kelvin Donaghey, who moved to the village shortly
before Pitchfork murdered Dawn.
The 39-year-old said he wanted to create a site where the emphasis would be on the
victims, not the killer.
He said: "Everywhere I look on the internet for information about the case, Pitchfork's
name is emblazoned across the top of the page.
"A lot of it seems to miss the point that two young girls lost their lives.
"So, this site isn't about him, it's about the girls.
"It's there for people to write their memories of Lynda and Dawn – the stories which
have, perhaps, never been told before.
"People leave flowers and messages at the side of the road when people have died in
road accidents.
"There is nothing really for the two girls and I want to give people an opportunity to put
their thoughts down somewhere."
Pitchfork was the first killer in the UK to be convicted through the use of DNA evidence.
He raped and murdered his first victim, 15-year-old Lynda, of Narborough, in November
1983.
She was strangled with her own scarf.
He body was found on land near Carlton Hayes Hospital, near Narborough.
Dawn, also 15, from Enderby, was murdered nearby in a similarly brutal fashion in July
1986.
Pitchfork is to have an appeal for a cut in his sentence heard in London on April 30.
Mr Donaghey, who is making no money from the website, said: "I don't think he should
ever be allowed out of prison. People who have committed crimes like his cannot be
rehabilitated.
"For his own benefit and the good of the whole community, he should remain where he
is."
Last month, Lynda's mother, Kath Eastwood, asked the Leicester Mercury to publish her
letter to the judges who will hear the appeal.
In it, the 60-year-old said: "Colin Pitchfork is a double child killer – he should never be
freed.
"He is a devious, cunning, evil man with no regard for human life.
"He is where he deserves to be. He should stay there. My feelings of loss and despair are
there every day. It's like an ache that never quite goes away."
Pitchfork, who lived in Littlethorpe, was given two life sentences at Leicester Crown
Court in January 1988.
At the time, the judge was not required to impose a minimum sentence.
In 1994, the Home Office ruled he should serve a minimum of 30 years.
However, in December last year, the 49-year-old won permission for the right to appeal
against the length of his sentence.
His lawyers argued his 30-year minimum sentence should be cut to about 20 years, in line
with similar cases.
An online memorial book has been created for the two victims of killer Colin Pitchfork.
Friends and relatives of schoolgirls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth are being encouraged
to commit their memories of the pair to the site.
It was designed by Enderby resident Kelvin Donaghey, who moved to the village shortly
before Pitchfork murdered Dawn.
The 39-year-old said he wanted to create a site where the emphasis would be on the
victims, not the killer.
He said: "Everywhere I look on the internet for information about the case, Pitchfork's
name is emblazoned across the top of the page.
"A lot of it seems to miss the point that two young girls lost their lives.
"So, this site isn't about him, it's about the girls.
"It's there for people to write their memories of Lynda and Dawn – the stories which
have, perhaps, never been told before.
"People leave flowers and messages at the side of the road when people have died in
road accidents.
"There is nothing really for the two girls and I want to give people an opportunity to put
their thoughts down somewhere."
Pitchfork was the first killer in the UK to be convicted through the use of DNA evidence.
He raped and murdered his first victim, 15-year-old Lynda, of Narborough, in November
1983.
She was strangled with her own scarf.
He body was found on land near Carlton Hayes Hospital, near Narborough.
Dawn, also 15, from Enderby, was murdered nearby in a similarly brutal fashion in July
1986.
Pitchfork is to have an appeal for a cut in his sentence heard in London on April 30.
Mr Donaghey, who is making no money from the website, said: "I don't think he should
ever be allowed out of prison. People who have committed crimes like his cannot be
rehabilitated.
"For his own benefit and the good of the whole community, he should remain where he
is."
Last month, Lynda's mother, Kath Eastwood, asked the Leicester Mercury to publish her
letter to the judges who will hear the appeal.
In it, the 60-year-old said: "Colin Pitchfork is a double child killer – he should never be
freed.
"He is a devious, cunning, evil man with no regard for human life.
"He is where he deserves to be. He should stay there. My feelings of loss and despair are
there every day. It's like an ache that never quite goes away."
Pitchfork, who lived in Littlethorpe, was given two life sentences at Leicester Crown
Court in January 1988.
At the time, the judge was not required to impose a minimum sentence.
In 1994, the Home Office ruled he should serve a minimum of 30 years.
However, in December last year, the 49-year-old won permission for the right to appeal
against the length of his sentence.
His lawyers argued his 30-year minimum sentence should be cut to about 20 years, in line
with similar cases.
| Recent media coverage |
A Mothers Anguish Saturday, March 21, 2009, 09:30 Leicester Mercury
It can happen at any time for Kath Eastwood: a name, a song, a date on a calendar or an
old picture in a photo album, writes Lee Marlow.
It doesn't take much to bring the events of 25 years ago barging their unwanted way in
to the present day.
On November 21, 1983, Kath's 15-year-old daughter, Lynda Mann, was raped and strangled
by Leicestershire baker Colin Pitchfork. Three years later, he struck again, killing 15-year-
old Dawn Ashworth in virtually identical circumstances.
Pitchfork was a cunning, cool-headed psychopath who didn't live by society's rules,
according to American author and former police detective Joseph Wambaugh, who
wrote a best- selling book – The Blooding – on the murders.
The killer was jailed for two life sentences in January 1988.
His conviction followed the biggest manhunt in Leicestershire history, and the case made
headlines worldwide for its use of pioneering DNA technology.
Today, 21 years after he was jailed, Pitchfork wants to come out. On Thursday, April 30,
at the Royal Courts of Justice, in London, Pitchfork will make his legal bid for freedom.
Kath, 60, won't be there, but she has been invited to write to the judge, to let him know
exactly what she feels about the man who murdered her daughter. It presents something
of a dilemma for a proud, quiet and private woman like Kath. Her life changed forever on
that Monday night in 1983.
"I can still remember it now," she says. "We'd been out. When we came back, Susan, my
eldest daughter, was at the top of the stairs. 'Mum,' she said, 'Lynda is still not home'."
The panic set in straight away, she remembers. Lynda wasn't the kind of girl to stay out
late.
They searched for her all night. It wasn't until the next day that they found her body
near the grounds of the old Carlton Hayes Hospital, in Narborough.
Even today, it's difficult to talk about it, to even hear Pitchfork's name spoken out loud.
"I can be watching something about farmers, for example, on television and if I hear the
word 'pitchfork', it makes my skin crawl," says Kath.
In the past, when she has spoken publicly about it, people have treated her differently.
"I know why," she says. "It's because they don't know what to say. I understand that."
Yet what's the alternative, she says. That she says nothing? That Pitchfork should be
allowed to put his side of the story to the judge uncontested, without a word from
those whose lives he ruined?
"I couldn't let him do that," shudders Kath.
So she wrote the letter we've printed on the facing page. It's Kath's response. It wasn't
an easy thing to write, but at least, on April 30, when the judge hears Pitchfork's
defence, he'll also get to hear what it's been like for the mother of the girl he murdered,
the mother who, 25 years on, still grieves.
It can happen at any time for Kath Eastwood: a name, a song, a date on a calendar or an
old picture in a photo album, writes Lee Marlow.
It doesn't take much to bring the events of 25 years ago barging their unwanted way in
to the present day.
On November 21, 1983, Kath's 15-year-old daughter, Lynda Mann, was raped and strangled
by Leicestershire baker Colin Pitchfork. Three years later, he struck again, killing 15-year-
old Dawn Ashworth in virtually identical circumstances.
Pitchfork was a cunning, cool-headed psychopath who didn't live by society's rules,
according to American author and former police detective Joseph Wambaugh, who
wrote a best- selling book – The Blooding – on the murders.
The killer was jailed for two life sentences in January 1988.
His conviction followed the biggest manhunt in Leicestershire history, and the case made
headlines worldwide for its use of pioneering DNA technology.
Today, 21 years after he was jailed, Pitchfork wants to come out. On Thursday, April 30,
at the Royal Courts of Justice, in London, Pitchfork will make his legal bid for freedom.
Kath, 60, won't be there, but she has been invited to write to the judge, to let him know
exactly what she feels about the man who murdered her daughter. It presents something
of a dilemma for a proud, quiet and private woman like Kath. Her life changed forever on
that Monday night in 1983.
"I can still remember it now," she says. "We'd been out. When we came back, Susan, my
eldest daughter, was at the top of the stairs. 'Mum,' she said, 'Lynda is still not home'."
The panic set in straight away, she remembers. Lynda wasn't the kind of girl to stay out
late.
They searched for her all night. It wasn't until the next day that they found her body
near the grounds of the old Carlton Hayes Hospital, in Narborough.
Even today, it's difficult to talk about it, to even hear Pitchfork's name spoken out loud.
"I can be watching something about farmers, for example, on television and if I hear the
word 'pitchfork', it makes my skin crawl," says Kath.
In the past, when she has spoken publicly about it, people have treated her differently.
"I know why," she says. "It's because they don't know what to say. I understand that."
Yet what's the alternative, she says. That she says nothing? That Pitchfork should be
allowed to put his side of the story to the judge uncontested, without a word from
those whose lives he ruined?
"I couldn't let him do that," shudders Kath.
So she wrote the letter we've printed on the facing page. It's Kath's response. It wasn't
an easy thing to write, but at least, on April 30, when the judge hears Pitchfork's
defence, he'll also get to hear what it's been like for the mother of the girl he murdered,
the mother who, 25 years on, still grieves.
PETITION TO
The Prime Minister
Leicester Mercury
13/May/09
The Prime Minister
Leicester Mercury
13/May/09
"Keep Child Sex Killer In Jail"
Campaigners hope a new petition on the Downing
Street website will help keep murderer and rapist
Colin Pitchfork in prison.
Pitchfork, who raped and murdered 15-year-olds Lynda
Mann and Dawn Ashworth, was jailed in 1988 and is not
due out of prison until 2018 at the earliest.
He is asking the Court of Appeal to shorten his
minimum sentence to 20 years, which could allow him
to go free if he can convince a probation board he is
no longer a threat.
Lynda's family failed earlier this month to set up a web
petition demanding Gordon Brown keeps the killer in
jail for life. Officers at 10 Downing Street said the
petitions could not be about individual criminal cases.
Now Kelvin Donaghey, who lives in Enderby, has set up
a more general petition, demanding that Mr Brown be
given the power to personally enforce "whole life
sentences for children's murderers".
Under current rules, politicians are very limited in how
they can interfere with the courts.
Campaigners hope a new petition on the Downing
Street website will help keep murderer and rapist
Colin Pitchfork in prison.
Pitchfork, who raped and murdered 15-year-olds Lynda
Mann and Dawn Ashworth, was jailed in 1988 and is not
due out of prison until 2018 at the earliest.
He is asking the Court of Appeal to shorten his
minimum sentence to 20 years, which could allow him
to go free if he can convince a probation board he is
no longer a threat.
Lynda's family failed earlier this month to set up a web
petition demanding Gordon Brown keeps the killer in
jail for life. Officers at 10 Downing Street said the
petitions could not be about individual criminal cases.
Now Kelvin Donaghey, who lives in Enderby, has set up
a more general petition, demanding that Mr Brown be
given the power to personally enforce "whole life
sentences for children's murderers".
Under current rules, politicians are very limited in how
they can interfere with the courts.
Petition continued . . .
Mr Donaghey, 40, said: "The petition was carefully
worded to make it generic enough so that we could
get it through.
"But its aim is to give the Prime Minister the power to
keep Pitchfork in prison for life.
"A Prime Minister can send thousands of troops off to
fight in a war but he doesn't have the power to stop
dangerous prisoners being released. That seems
absurd."
Mr Donaghey was 18 when Pitchfork was first in court
following the murders, which were committed in 1983
and 1986.
Lynda, from Narborough, and Dawn, from neighbouring
Enderby, were raped and strangled and their bodies
found dumped in undergrowth in Narborough.
Mr Donaghey said: "I lived in the village and I found the
whole thing really affected me. It eats away at you
knowing that a man is capable of this.
"I just think that everything's got to be done to stop
this sort of thing because abuse and violence just lead
to more abuse and violence.
"Sentences can't be light or they're just no deterrent."
Kath Eastwood, the mother of Lynda Mann, said that
she would welcome the change in the law Mr
Donaghey's petition calls for.
She said: "A change in the law is definitely needed
because there's just not enough public input into
these decisions. It seems to be very secretive.
"These sorts of crimes are going on all the time and
things must not be allowed to get any worse.
"So it seems important that these people who have
committed murders should not be let back out to do it
again." (READ FULL ARTICLE AND READERS VIEWS HERE)
Leicester Mercury Wednesday 13-May-09
Mr Donaghey, 40, said: "The petition was carefully
worded to make it generic enough so that we could
get it through.
"But its aim is to give the Prime Minister the power to
keep Pitchfork in prison for life.
"A Prime Minister can send thousands of troops off to
fight in a war but he doesn't have the power to stop
dangerous prisoners being released. That seems
absurd."
Mr Donaghey was 18 when Pitchfork was first in court
following the murders, which were committed in 1983
and 1986.
Lynda, from Narborough, and Dawn, from neighbouring
Enderby, were raped and strangled and their bodies
found dumped in undergrowth in Narborough.
Mr Donaghey said: "I lived in the village and I found the
whole thing really affected me. It eats away at you
knowing that a man is capable of this.
"I just think that everything's got to be done to stop
this sort of thing because abuse and violence just lead
to more abuse and violence.
"Sentences can't be light or they're just no deterrent."
Kath Eastwood, the mother of Lynda Mann, said that
she would welcome the change in the law Mr
Donaghey's petition calls for.
She said: "A change in the law is definitely needed
because there's just not enough public input into
these decisions. It seems to be very secretive.
"These sorts of crimes are going on all the time and
things must not be allowed to get any worse.
"So it seems important that these people who have
committed murders should not be let back out to do it
again." (READ FULL ARTICLE AND READERS VIEWS HERE)
Leicester Mercury Wednesday 13-May-09